At 57, Nicole Kidman stars in Babygirl, a daring new erotic thriller by Halina Reijn. Exploring power and desire, the film reinvents the genre’s outdated codes with a fresh, modern perspective.
Nicole Kidman breaks away from her glamorous star image in Babygirl, an edgy new erotic thriller hitting theaters Wednesday. The film revives a genre long dismissed as outdated in the wake of feminist movements.
At 57, the Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and Moulin Rouge! (2001) actress, who has never left the big screen, takes on one of her boldest roles yet, earning her the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival.
Kidman plays a New York tech mogul engaged in a steamy affair with a young intern. Few actresses of her stature have dared to appear as she does here—nude on screen or receiving botox injections during one of the rare erotic scenes.
"This is a film about desire, pleasure, inner flaws, secrets, marriage, truth, power, and consent," Kidman said during the film’s presentation in Venice. "It's the story of a woman, and I hope it’s liberating. Told by a woman (Dutch director and writer Halina Reijn) through a feminine lens, that’s what makes it so unique to me."
However, this "strong woman" story has a shadow: her character’s unfulfilled sex life with her husband, a theater director played by Antonio Banderas, 64. She has never experienced pleasure with him and has never dared to discuss it. The film cleverly plays on the personas of two Hollywood icons: Kidman, the glamorous red-carpet queen, and Banderas, the epitome of virile masculinity.
She begins an affair with a young intern (Harris Dickinson, 28, known for Triangle of Sadness, Palme d'Or 2022). This triggers a profound existential crisis as she discovers her desires, jeopardizing her career and family as the intern resorts to blackmail.
The "beast" in us
Halina Reijn, a former actress who worked with Paul Verhoeven (Black Book), explained, "Men or women, we all have a beast within us—a mix of good and bad." With Babygirl, she aimed to redefine the erotic thriller.
The genre, which flourished in the 1980s and 1990s with films like Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, and 9 ½ Weeks, lost its edge in the wake of the #MeToo movement. The portrayal of sex in cinema has become a sensitive topic, often driven by female filmmakers.
Films like Portrait of a Lady on Fire by Céline Sciamma have explored female desire, while industry practices now include intimacy coordinators, as seen in this production. Nicole Kidman shared how working with a female director allowed her to build a sense of closeness, while Reijn emphasized portraying pleasure from a woman’s perspective.
The film subverts traditional male-female relationship dynamics and explores generational divides while maintaining Hollywood’s sacred ideals of family and marriage.
With AFP
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